Otakon announced earlier today that Diana Garnet will be performing at the Thursday Matsrui event on August 11th at Baltimore's West Shore Park, a day prior to the main convention starting. This from the convention staff:
Born in Washington D.C., U.S.A., this 100% American is one of few prominent foreign artists signed to a major Japanese record label.
Full of cute charm and an insatiable interest for all things Japan, Diana was heavily influenced by her anime-loving father, and was immersed into anime culture at a young age. Her interest became life-changing when she first heard Yuzurenai Negai by Naomi Tamura, which inspired her life goal to become a singer in Japan.
On her third trip to Japan, she began to work as a middle-school English teacher, when a life-changing opportunity arose for Diana - in 2013, she took part in a nationwide karaoke TV show for foreigners, called Nodojiman! THE WORLD 2013 Spring on NTV, and was crowned the winner, also securing a major label debut at the same time.
After releasing cover works for her first single and mini-album, Diana's first original single, "Spinning World" was chosen as the ending theme song for the mega-hit anime, Naruto: Shippuden, making her the first female solo foreign artist to sing an anime theme song.
Since then, she has also featured in FLOW's best album as a guest vocalist, and was also tapped as one of the "likely breakout stars of 2015" in Yahoo! Japan's Video Topic Awards.
Her 2nd original single, Nankai! Mystery was chosen as the theme song for the NHK E-TV anime Tantei Team KZ Jiken Note, which will air from October 2015 to March 2016, further elevating her status among anime and mass audiences alike.